Chennai: Indian space-tech start-up Agnikul, today announced that the Government Of India has awarded them the patent for the design and manufacturing of their single-piece rocket engines. Agnilet, one such single piece engine, is the world’s first single-piece 3D printed rocket engine fully designed and manufactured in India, it was successfully test-fired in early 2021. Agnilet has been designed in such a manner so as to encapsulate all of these into just one piece of hardware and has zero assembled parts. Agnikul showcased this engine at IAC 2021, Dubai which is the most prestigious space tech gathering in the world.
Agnikul had recently announced the inauguration of its Rocket Factory- 1, India’s first-ever rocket facility dedicated to 3D print such rocket engines at scale situated at the IIT Madras Research Park. The new state-of-the-art production house houses world-class machinery, including a 400mm x 400mm x 400mm metal 3D printer from EOS, and a host of other machines that will enable end-to-end manufacturing of a rocket engine under one roof.
Commenting on the patent, Srinath Ravichandran, Co-founder & CEO, Agnikul said, “Rocket engines usually have 1000s of parts in them – starting from injectors that inject fuel into the engine, to the cooling channels that cool the engine, to the igniter that is necessary to ignite the propellants. Designing Agnilet as a single piece of hardware has not been an easy ride, but our team has proved it to be otherwise. This patent is a testament to the world-class designed-in-India and made-in-India deeptech engineering that the Agnikul team is able to do. We sincerely would like to thank our mentors and guides from ISRO, industry and academia for constantly guiding us, hand holding us and walking with us through the highs and lows.”
Moin SPM, Co-founder, Agnikul said, “We at Agnikul are elated at this feat. We are incredibly thankful to our mentors and advisors & the IN-SPACe committee for supporting and guiding us in our journey. This honor is dedicated to the round-the-clock effort of our employees who have left no stone unturned to translate our vision and mission into reality. We will continue to focus and work toward making space the next frontier within reach.”
Founded in 2017 by Srinath Ravichandran, Moin SPM & Prof. SR Chakravarthy (from IIT Madras), Agnikul is on a mission to make space accessible and affordable and has its eyes set on supporting Honourable PM’s vision of enabling the building of Aatamanirbhar Bharat. The IIT Madras incubated startup became the first Indian company to sign an agreement with the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) in December 2020. The agreement signed under the IN-SPACe initiative helps Agnikul access ISRO’s expertise and facilities to test its systems.
Agnikul has raised a total funding of INR 105 Crores ($15Mn) from Mayfield India, pi Ventures, Speciale Invest, and a host of others including prominent angels such as Anand Mahindra and Naval Ravikant since 2019.
